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Car sharing is exploding in downtown Vancouver. In 2007, there were 160 car-share vehicles; today, there are more than 2,100.

The numbers swelled this week when Car2go announced it was doubling its local fleet. Six hundred and twenty-five Smart cars in the distinctive white and blue Car2go colours will be added through the end of September, bringing the local fleet to 1,250 vehicles.

Car2go operates in 14 cities in North America and 30 globally and has a worldwide fleet of 13,500 vehicles. And now Vancouver has surpassed Berlin to claim the largest Car2go fleet in the world.

“I think the reason Car2go has been so successful in Vancouver is two-fold,” said Dacyl Armendariz, who came Vancouver from Car2go’s headquarters in Austin, Tex. to help announce the expansion.

“The population is really dense here, which makes it a perfect fit for a car-sharing service. There’s also a good public transportation infrastructure already in place, and Car2go is a great complement to an existing public transit system.

“I also think there’s a green mindset here. That also helps. This is a walkable city, and car sharing fits nicely into that environment.”

Car2go’s Vancouver general manager Chris Iuvancigh said the company expanded to meet demand.

“One of the biggest complaints we’ve heard over the last couple of months and years is that members want to use our service but they can’t find a car in their neighbourhood,” he said.

“We’re hoping this increase is going to satisfy the demand and make a car available whenever they need one.”

There are three other big car-share companies in town. Modo was the first local car-share service, beginning life in 1997 as the Co-operative Auto Network. It now has 401 vehicles.

Zipcar, which has been operating in Vancouver since 2007, has 230 vehicles. The newest car-sharing company is Evo, which launched four months ago. It is owned by BCAA and has 250 cars.

Customers typically buy a membership to the car-share company then pay a fee for every trip they take.

For Car2go and Evo, membership is $35 and each trip costs 41 cents per minute. Zipcar membership is $7 per month, plus $7 per hour for a vehicle. Modo costs $5 per month for membership plus $8 per hour. But if you pay $500 to be a “member-owner,” there is no monthly fee and the hourly fee is $4. Companies may also charge registration fees or extra costs for exceeding kilometres allowances.

Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs said the city is “very happy” with the way car sharing has taken off in Vancouver.

“We think it’s an alternative to car ownership,” said Meggs. “It’s a good extension of the transit system for a lot of people, it integrates well with taxis.”

In fact, Meggs uses both Car2go and Modo himself.

“On many occasions they’re more available than a taxi, and more convenient,” he said.

“I can use different kinds of vehicles, depending on my needs. So I’ve used a truck for a move, a van to take family elders to the interior for a weekend. I’m not trying to manage everything in a single type of car, I can access different types of cars for different jobs.”

Evo knows this, which is why it decided to go with bigger cars than the two-seater Smart cars Car2go uses.

“They seat five and have four doors, so you can take your family or friends with you. They come with bike racks and ski racks as well, to help you to get to all the different places B.C. has to offer.”

Meggs said car shares are becoming a staple of new condo developments.

“It’s helping a lot in some of the larger developments,” said Meggs.

“By putting in car shares they’re able to reduce their parking, which reduces the cost of the building. Rezoning routinely includes car sharing now, so I think everybody’s assumption is it’s a permanent feature of life in the city.”

The one drawback with car shares is that they don’t go everywhere. Most operate in or near downtown, although they are adding areas all the time. Car2go doesn’t operate in Surrey, for example, aside from a spot at Kwantlen University.

Vancouver has 141 dedicated on-street parking spaces for car-share companies. The annual cost varies from $330 to $660 and $1,320 per space, depending on the location. But most car-share vehicles use regular street parking. The city also allows them to park in resident-only zones.

In Calgary, clusters of Car2go vehicles taking up street parking prompted a backlash, which led the city to tell the company to move cars if several were in one spot.

But in Vancouver it doesn’t seem to have been a problem.

“We haven’t seen that kind of pushback in Vancouver,” said Car2go’s Iuvancigh.

“Our cars move very quickly. In the spring we had one car that moved 24 times in a 24-hour period, by 20 different members.”

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Car share numbers rev up in Vancouver as drivers take the wheel

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